Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Advancing Women's Rights in Morocco

Renowned professor, author, scholar and women’s rights advocate Fatima Sadiqi will be speaking this Thursday, July 5, at the Annex of the American Language Center/ ALIF

"With all modesty…, I consider myself the first female linguist in the Arab world and the first to tackle the issue of women from a gender and language perspective in Morocco. The moment you gain languages you also gain access to the language of the media, the government, the mosque – and you start speaking the language of authority."

Fatima Sadiqi, speaking to The Guardian

Fatima Sadiqi is a former Fulbright Scholar and recipient of a Harvard Fellowship. She is Professor of Linguistics and Gender Studies, author of, among other works, Women, Gender, and Language in Morocco (Brill, 2003) and co-editor of Women Writing Africa. The Northern Region (The Feminist Press, 2009), Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Agents of Change, and Gender and Violence in the Middle East (Routledge 2010 and 2011).

She founded the first Moroccan Centre for Studies and Research on Women in 1998 and the first graduate program on Gender Studies in 2000 at the University of Fez. In 2006, she founded Isis Centre for Women and development (with the aim of bridging the gap between the university and civil society) and in 2009 she was elected President of the National Union of Women’s Associations. In the same year, she co-founded the International Institute for Languages and Cultures (INLAC).

Fatima Sadiqi was appointed by Kufi Annan as a member of the UN Council for Development Policy (E.C.O.S.S.O.C.), and was appointed by the king of Morocco as a member of the Administrative Board of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM). From 2007 to 2009, Ms. Sadiqi served as Director General of the Fes Festival of Sacred Music.

For anyone interested in gender studies and women’s rights, this is a talk not to be missed.

When: Thursday, July 5 at 6:15 PMWhere: ALC annex, across from the ALC

THE VIEW FROM FEZ ~ YOUR WINDOW INTO MOROCCO

The View from Fez aims to promote interest and understanding of life in Fez in particular and Morocco in general. The View from Fez is produced in Fez by the registered company: The View from Fez (Pat: 40461390). Our contributors are based in the Fez Medina and in other centres around Morocco. We welcome contributions from writers and photographers across the country.